Being God's Medium

Being God's Medium is a series of four books that explore Marshall McLuhan's theory that "the medium is the message" and applies that to churches, religious organizations, and faith-based groups. The books feature a mix of design, photography, imagery, words and original content that raise attempt to raise questions about how the modern church is communicating. The entire series served as an experiment in the interplay between original content and imagery in an overall attempt to tell a different type of story.

Book Design

Art Direction

Writing

Research

2014

↑ The first book, Medium, serves as an introduction to the following books. I wrote a brief history of communication within the church and how the Gospel message is primarily about communication. This book is designed to thoughtfully mix image with text and sets the art direction for the following books.

↑ The second book, Look, plays with the ideas of opposites. Each spread features images that at face value show the same thing, yet also show drastically different messages. Whether it be a mega-church and a small country church or an image of the crucifixion next to one of those cheesy Jesus-walking-on-the-beach shots. Whether we realize it or not, these images are telling different stories and I want to highlight that. There is no text in this book (aside from a quote that opens and closes the books) and it’s up to reader to decide if these different messages are positive or negative.

↑ The third book, Word, continues the idea of opposites a bit and showcases various Bible verses in different translations. There are literally hundreds of translations of the Bible today and sometimes the original meaning gets lost translation after translation. Again, I simply show the two translations side-by-side, sometimes they are drastically different and sometimes it’s a simple rewording, but it’s up to the reader to decide the result.

↑ The final book, Whale, is a culmination of sorts of everything in the first three books. The fourth book is a retelling of the story of Jonah. To me, this is a strange story that takes some interesting paths but at its core, it’s a story about communication, about sharing the message. This book gets a little more daring in its typography and the imagery plays a larger role.